HR Over Coffee

Welcome to HR Over Coffee, a blog and video series from the experts at HR360, where you will learn how to effectively hire, manage and terminate employees.

Performance reviews play a key role in helping to guide employees' performance, compensation and professional development. Download our FREEsample employee evaluation form at the link below for use when conducting performance reviews to inform employees about the quality of their work, identify areas needing improvement, and set goals for performance.

Specific areas of performance highlighted in the sample employee evaluation form include:

Quality of work

Attendance and punctuality

Dependability

Communication skills

Judgment and decision-making

Initiative and flexibility

Teamwork

Job knowledge

Training and development

Documenting Employee Performance Evaluations

To maximize the effectiveness of your evaluation process, review the employee's overall performance based upon specific, job-related criteria and provide concrete examples related to performance issues. Be sure that your documentation is direct, factual, and detail-oriented, and remember to be honest with your employee performance reviews—if you provide a very positive review of an employee without detailing the problems, you now have documentation that does not support a decision to discipline or terminate.

Performance records can provide important documentation for your company in the event a disciplinary action, termination or other adverse personnel decision becomes necessary. Be careful that your review process and measurements of performance treat employees equitably, and avoid any statements or actions that can be construed as discriminatory.

HR Forms at Your Fingertips

How much time do you spend tracking down HR forms when you need to document a work-related issue or respond to a request from an employee? HR360's Forms & Policies section features over 500 sample HR forms, policies and checklists available for employers to download, customize and print. Sign up for your free 30-day trial today to experience everything that HR360 has to offer!